2 Things to try to fix stuttering

[abbott_m]

Nope, 64K clusters on all my video partitions.

[Evil_Attorney]

This isn't a disk issue for me. I have a 200gig SATA drive that only has about 5 shows on it now. Plus, other video programs can play these files without skipping. The problem for me seems to relate to a memory/buffer type issue only for sage. Are there any buffer settings unique to sage that can be tweaked?

[zakrzep]

Anyone try this? Got from another forum. Look specifically at where it says the latest nVidia drivers have a problem. I did not have this problem with an old ATI card with TV out. It happened when I upgraded to an eVga MX 4000 nVidia card.

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03-14-2005, 10:49 AM
scarin
Registered User Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 18

Decoder Issue

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Is the Nvidia DVD Decoder worthe the investment. The $19 doen't really bother me I just do not want to spend it if it will not increase my performance. I am running a EVGA Nvidea FX5500 w/ 256 mg Ram. BM quality is great. LiveTV in BTV is still lacking and I get the occassional "stutter", where the video pauses for a fraction of a second now and again. I saw in another post new v7 nvidia drivers that I will download and install, XP fully updated. HPVR 150

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Last edited by scarin : 03-14-2005 at 10:53 AM.

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#2 03-14-2005, 11:28 AM
wxboy
Registered User Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: North Central MD
Posts: 60

Re: Decoder Issue

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DO NOT INSTALL THE NEW WHQL NVIDIA DRIVERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They caused horrible studering issues. Instead, install 76.10 from www.Guru3D.com

The NVIDIA decoder is much worth the investment. I have excelent quality after crap previously with a FX5200.

[Evil_Attorney]

Now that I think about it, I think my problems did begin shortly after installing the latest NVIDIA forceware drivers from their website. I'll try installing the older drivers tonight.

[Evil_Attorney]

I tried installing the 76.10 drivers and it didn't help. In fact, now my windows icons are all garbled, even after uninstalling and reinstalling any other nvidia driver. I'm thinking about upgrading from win2k to xp, but I'm not sure that will make much of a difference.

[insomniac]

FWIW:

76.10 didnt do any good for me either. Although I am cured(ffdshow) of micro stutter, I still get long pauses when entering and exiting menu's and previous recordings on my client. quite frustrating...

[Evil_Attorney]

Ok, I FINALLY fixed my problem. However, I don't know exactly what was causing it.

I broke down and bought Win XP Pro and upgraded from Win 2K. I installed an older NVIDIA driver that came with my graphics card (I initially tried the newer drivers from NVIDIA's website, but they caused my icons to display garbled). Everything worked fine after that.

Before I bought XP, I did a reformat/clean install as a last ditch effort, but it did not help. So, it seems that something in XP fixed my problem. Also of note, Win 2k gave me other strange problems. When I updated to WMP 9, Sage wouldn't recognize my PVR 250. Then, after installing more security updates for WMP 9, I got a blue screen of death every time I booted up, even in safe mode.

One more off topic comment. I know many of you love the NVIDIA decoder, but I was doing a comparison of it in both overlay and vr9 mode to the Cyberlink decoder. The cyberlink decoder appeared to have more realistic color and a slightly sharper image.

[insomniac]

unfortunately, my stuttering is gone, but the long lag after selecting recordings from the menu still persists for me. Im running XP pro SP1. Oh well...this might be my excuse to run the client with win2k3 some day soon

[Ryokurin]

Originally Posted by Evil_Attorney

One more off topic comment. I know many of you love the NVIDIA decoder, but I was doing a comparison of it in both overlay and vr9 mode to the Cyberlink decoder. The cyberlink decoder appeared to have more realistic color and a slightly sharper image.

This is off of powerDVD 6 right? I have it but I havent been wanting to install it on the Htpc simply because I have heard of no one using it and I didnt want to destroy a good thing going. I plan on doing a reimage soon anyways so I may give it a try later on.

[Evil_Attorney]

Yea, it is from powerDVD 6. It didn't mess anything up on my system.

[sundansx]

Evil Att,
Were you using the Nvidia Video post processor (VPP) software or hardware? In sage this is listed as an alternate Nvidia Mpeg2 decoder named similar to above.
-ck

[Evil_Attorney]

I tried the VPP and setting sage to default to get the Nvidia icon. I didn't know there was that much of a difference between the two. Which one is better, considering I have a decent video card?

[sundansx]

I cant tell you which is better, as I have only used software mode with my 5700le card. I was asking because of your comments about visual quality of the codec as compared to the powerdvd one.
I see a big picture quality improvement when I use VPP. This is really noticable when I am watching something on my 100" projector screen. From what I have heard from AVS.forum, hardware VPP looks better. I have also heard that they are the same (same algorithm in software or hardware), so I'm not sure what to beleive.
You, evidently, activate hw VPP by activating the smart/automatic settings and use the nVidia VPP codec. You can verify the mode the code is running in by examining the decoder properties while a video is loaded in Sage.
Also, to use hw VPP, you have to have a nVidia 6000 series video card. I am planning to get one in the future when the prices have eroded a bit.

[gplasky]

You activate HW VPP by choosing "Smart" in the settings and checking "DXVA" in the nVidia codec settings. You don't choose the VPP codec. Once you do you're in software mode. And if you choose "Automatic" you're in software. If you choose nVidia VPP in Sage you're in software mode too.

Also HW VPP will work on GeForce cards from FX 5200 on up. They just work much better on the 6000 series.



Gerry

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by gplasky

And if you choose "Automatic" you're in software.

Well if you have DXVA (Hardware Accelleration) enabled, and you pick Automatic, and aren't using the VPP filter (ie have nVidia Video Decoder selected) then you're still in "hardware" mode, but you're using the lame flag-based film detection instead of the advanced film detection Smart gives you.

[Evil_Attorney]

Which mode is fastest? Although installing winxp seemed to eliminate the major stuttering problems I previously had, I still get micro-stutters on horizontally scrolling video with any/all codecs, including NVIDIA. It's improved if I increase the priority for sage, but not fully eliminated even with that.

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by stanger89

Well if you have DXVA (Hardware Accelleration) enabled, and you pick Automatic, and aren't using the VPP filter (ie have nVidia Video Decoder selected) then you're still in "hardware" mode, but you're using the lame flag-based film detection instead of the advanced film detection Smart gives you.

And I thought only "Smart" and "DXVA" checked enabled put you in hardware. My bad.

Gerry

[stanger89]

DXVA is what enables hardware accelleration, "Smart" + DXVA is how you get the hardware version of the VPP.

[gplasky]

Yeah-what you said. (That's what I meant to say, forgot to type the VPP)



Gerry

[insomniac]

Thought I should share some progress..

While this will probably help no one but myself, I decided to upgrade my client box(that suffered of the really long lag times switching between menu's back to live tv, etc) to SP2. Fortunately for me, something which was updated ended up fixing my problem. Unfortunately, I have no idea what it was...

Just an FYI if anyone has my similar issues and hasnt gone the sp2 route...

I.